Hunter: Pets

Before Cataclysm comes out, hunters are getting a massive change to their pets. No longer are the pets limited to one use or being the best-of-the-best (like the wolf). Also, pets can cover for a missing buff; so if your raid is missing a Str/Agi buff, then bring a cat! Anyway, here’s a global list of pets and their uses.

Hunter Pet Abilities and Buffs by Pet

Here is a complete list of all the Cataclysm hunter pet abilities. Several of these have been changing throughout the beta, so please drop a note if I’ve got something wrong here. Also note that I’ve left out cosmetic pet abilities like the fox’s Play and the bear’s Rest.

Hunter Pet Raid Buffs by Pet Type

Now let’s set aside all those hunter pet abilities that aren’t related to raid buffs. Here we’re just looking at the raid buffs, organized by pet type. This list should be most helpful in determining which hunter pets you will want to have in your giant Cataclysm stable for your raid team.

Ferocity Hunter Pet Buffs

Agility and Strength: cat, spirit beast (exotic)

Burst Haste: corehound (exotic)

5% crit: wolf, devilsaur (exotic)

12% armor debuff: raptor

30% bleed damage: hyena

Cast speed reduction: corehound (exotic)

10% melee attack speed reduction: tallstrider, fox

Cunning Hunter Pet Buffs

Health: silithid (exotic)

12% armor debuff: serpent

Cast speed reduction: sporebat

4% physical damage taken: ravager

8% spell damage taken: dragonhawk, wind serpent

Tenacity Hunter Pet Buffs

5% stats: shale spider (exotic)

12% physical damage: bear

30% bleed damage: rhino (exotic), boar

4% physical damage taken: worm (exotic)

Raid Buffs by Raid Buff Type

Here is a complete list of every raid buff and debuff available in Cataclysm, including which hunter pets provide it as well as what classes provide it. Note that I don’t guarantee the information on other classes is still correct. The info on other classes came from Blizzard, but much earlier in the beta and things could have changed. I only keep up to date on hunter stuff.

The Pet Short List

Here is a suggested list of the 12 pets that you should have in your stable to cover every raid buff type. This list assumes that you’d prefer ferocity over cunning, and cunning over tenacity — so that you always have the highest dps pet providing your buff. It also assumes that you’d prefer a non-exotic pet over an exotic pet, so you’ll have more flexibility in what spec to use.

Note that three buffs are only provided by exotic pets: the burst haste (heroism), stamina (fortitude), and 5% stats (kings/motw).

This entry was posted by Chris on 2010/10/05 at 12:30, and is filed under MMO Fun. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0.Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.